Monday, August 22, 2011

Its already 5 days since the release of the new banlist but I still dont have a freakin' Black Luster Soldier/ Chaos Soldier/ BLS! >.<

Currently I'm playing a sort of Chaos deck with a happy number of 5 boss monsters: DAD, 3 Chaos Sorcerers, and a PROXY of Chaos Soldier. Im so emo since I already went to the local shop, asked around everybody, searched online shops, but still cant find anyone selling an asia-legal (jap/asia version) of BLS!

Konami SHOULD reprint the card for the sake of the newer players in Asia. Its not like everyone was around in the days of the Series 3 boosters, asian IOCs, or Expert Editions.

The nearest reprint booster set in the OCG is EXP4 and we all know that set wont have a BLS. Gold Series 2012 wont be until the new year and even if BLS gets reprinted in that set it would only be short of 3 months before it might possibly get banned again. Would you wait and burn through September, Oct, Nov, and Dec tournaments?

Besides that, having BLS in your deck is a MAJOR factor if someone wants to fare well in the ranking league tournaments. Summoning it almost ensures a win or a major change in the momentum of the game. It can almost do everything...

1) Banish any non-immune monsters whether f/d or not
2) Walk over most boss monsters
3) Deal a heck load of damage through battling 2x
4) Add to swarms to deliver otk
5) Add to psycho war since 1st person to summon his BLS or any boss and not win that turn would likely be BLS'ed next turn

It is not even that hard to summon him unlike the other boss monsters like DAD, Trishula, and Kristya. Speaking of Kristya, Agents are another viable deck that can seal away most bosses like BLS. So... does that mean non-BLS players will likely go to Agents? NOT! Even Agents can add BLS to their arsenal in the deck.

Hopefully someone sells me a BLS soon. Im gonna treat him/her to food as long as he doesnt scam me with the price, lol. /rant

Although this wont be somehow of a "new" format since we already experienced this a year and a half before, it is a "cool" format (imo) to be where going second wont be such a pain anymore. In fact, with Heavy Storm back, it looks like going second is THE thing next format since you can Storm your opponent into a -1 or -2 early depending on his extension.

What happened to the top decks? OCG and TCG

Tengu Plant / Tengu Variants = Tengu obviously wasn't hit yet, lol. But I expect the TCG to clear up the Xyz Rulings soon since the World Championship already did so. Tengu Synchro has their Plant-side torn up. Tengu Stun/TG has Heavy Storm/MSTx3 as a threat to their lives.

Junk Doppel = the plant engine got hit hard with 1x Lonefire and Debris. Librarian is still ok at 1 but Formula at 1 while only having 1 Avarice in the deck will give this deck a hard time to cope with upcoming decks. Luckily, Junk Synchron and Doppel wasn't hit and the affinity of the deck to the "Chaos" theme gives hope to this deck. Personally, I'll be deck-testing new builds of Junk Doppel.

Six Samurai = Smoke Signal at 1 already hurt the deck but Shien at 1 is brutal. Expect this deck to lose popularity. Looks like the Ascetism Samurai build will be the only way to go, unless the build Wslasher showed me becomes successful.

Tech Genus variants = Horn of the Phantom beast and TG1-EM1 are now at the mercy of Heavy Storm. Much more skilled play is needed to pilot this deck now.

GKs = Heavy Storm and 3x MST is intimidating for any Stun type deck now. In fact, I wont be discussing any Anti-Meta deck any further in this post. Oppression gone is a big blow for them.

Offering Gadget = Ultimate Offering not hit is a good thing. But 3x MST? Yes, this deck can somehow manage against Heavy Storm but a MST chaining against the activation of the UO is THE major problem. Sadly, this deck will lose popularity too.

BF = Not getting hit AND getting love from Konami! Icarus at 3 is back and the connection of Graveyard BF with the D-hero engine looks to be promising! Expect this deck to be the top deck of Japan for the next few weeks.

LS = now this is the deck that got the most love from Konami! 3x JD, 2x Gardna, BLS and Storm! Hoard all your Light Mirrors and DD Crows right now!

Although some bloggers are already saying that they dislike this banlist, personally I do like it since it promotes combo-plays and not "set 4-5, end turn".

Friday, August 12, 2011

Last time I talked about how to pawn using Offering Gadgets. Today I'll talk about it again and how to deprive your opponent from playing his cards!

Number 16: Ruler of Color - Shock Ruler
Fairy/Xyz/Effect
3 Level 4 monstersOnce per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card and declare a type of card (Spell, Trap, or Monster Card); until your opponent's next End Phase, neither player can activate cards of the declared type.

Yeah, you guessed it! Summon 3 of these atrocities in your turn; have each of it lock each of the card types and laugh as your opponent cannot activate any card!

The hard part is that you'll need exactly all 9 Gadgets to complete the lock. But with Reborn Tengu, it gets so much easier coz you can detach Tengu, summon another, and use that as Xyz material for the next. Heck, you dont even need to lock all Spells, Trap, and Monsters to defeat your opponent. Most likely you'll only lock two types, then he'll just go down.

Of course, I played the deck on Dueling Network again

One thing you must take care of are cards like Spirit reaper. You might waste all your gadgets to summon those Color Rulers to lock everything but it wont win you if you cant land the finishing blow. Luckily, we have Trishula to take care of problems :p

Another 1st turn Naturia Beast (bye Spells) got him to just Troop-dump and set 3 cards his turn. 2nd Turn finish of 2x Color Rulers to bar the other card types! Sorry Trooper, no effect :p

Later through the night, I joined a tournament someone organized using Challonge.com and fared pretty well.

Round2: Klajdi Pr0 (Evoldo Xyz) O-X-O *lost rps (rock-paper-scissors)
G1 = He set 4. I drew Dusts and Mst w/o UO and set them. He used mst from hand I chain to destroy his f/d. His Diplodocus also tried to destroy another but his f/d got hit instead. My turn I drew UO and went to control.
G2 = He set 4 again and a monster. My tengu got Warning'd and I set 3 w/ UO. He flipped the reptile evoldo, SS'd a lv4 then normal summond another 4. I torrential, he 7tools, I used 7tools too, but he got Judgment! lol, fail in front of Ragia
G3 = Final Lockdown made by 2 Colors only since my other gadget got warning'd and killed the loop.

Semis: vs. turbox1000 (Tengu Zombies) *lost rps O-O-
G1 = He set 2 and a monster, end. Drew UO 1st turn with Dusts. Set only Dusts and gadget killed his Mezuki. He MST a Dust on EP. He summoned Zombie Master, revived Mezuki, attacked and ended. At EP I dust his warning and set UO. Locked him next turn.
G2 = He only set a monster and 2 backs and ended. I summon and set 2. He pass. At Ep I Mst his set Warning. My turn UO play into Librarian + Trish. His field now bare with only 1 card in hand but he doesnt quit. I summoned Color to lock Monsters and he condeded, showing me his Gorz lol. Sorry Gorz. xD

Finals: vs. the organizer, Deus Ex Machina (T.G. Tengu) *lost rps X-X-
G1: He set 5. My turn summoned a gadget, and set Mst and UO. His turn summon Raioh. waa. I Mst a Mforce, Dark Holed Raioh, summoned gadget, but UO got MST'ed. He controled with TG + Horn
G2: 1st turn Naturia Beast but with only bluff spells and MForce as backrow. He dared to summon Naturia Barkion and killed my Beast. wew talk about courageous. He controlled for a few turns but somehow I got UO up and he didnt negate thinking I would have less than 1000 LP coz he was gonna attack with more monsters. I UO some def'ed gadgets and survived. My turn I summoned Color to negate trap, Disigma to take Barkion, and Hope (left with 1100 LP). Killed all his monsters. His turn he set a card and summoned a TG. My draw phase he took Hope with TG1-EM1. My misplay was I forgot that Disigma can take more than 1 monster at a time so my attacks got negated. He survived Color's last lock and I got hit with all his traps. lol.

So result was I only got to Finalist spot. Haha, here's a shot of the tourney structure before the finals (Im on no.1 slot. *topmost)

I really hope Ultimate Offering dont get hit this coming banlist! Drawing it = a very good chance you'll win, xD
Truly, a 1-card OTK! (coz I dont count Gadgets as a combo-piece since you always have it onhand)
Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Last time on Dueling Network!~~~ lol (recalling EN-dub Yugioh GX in my head)

What I actually want to say is that the all-time demand Xyz monsters are now available in Dueling Network! If the last hype inside the free browser game was Dark World, Tengu Plants, Tengu TG and all kinds of Tengu decks, be prepared now to experience the imbal Tour Guide-Sangan Xyz madness courtesy of Kevin Tewart's TCG ruling!

Well, what can I say? You cant control those TCG players in DN even if you paste a heck wall of text from Konami OCG Faq. If you cant stop them, then join and beat them with their own Xyz drug!

Hello DN! Here's Offering Gadgets!

I dont care what they say. 1st-turn Naturia Beast (Gadget + One for One/Foolish Burial) + set a ton of traps (w/ Offering) will make your opponent just set something, end his turn and die with your next.

Poor pussycat. :( I'm not an abuser of these kind of decks. I didnt know he played Crystal Beasts when I summoned Naturia Beast 1st turn.

This version of Offering gadgets I made with a mix of some TGs and the Plant engine. I didnt include Reborn Tengu in coz I was annoyed with the card at that time. If anyone's interested, here's what I made:

Basically I won all my games because of 1st turn Naturia Beast. (Why am I so lucky? lol) Then I thought of some way to how consistently summon Naturia Beast then why not summon someone like him?
EVOLKAISER RAGIA!

You may wonder how did I just pit this all in and call it a deck? The card that puts Offering Gadgets and Ragia Rabbit together in my deck is....

DNA SURGERY! Yes, you are seeing it for real. This might outrage some ppl but please dont bash me coz I want to troll some DN peeps with 3x walking Solemn Judgments and Xyz Relinquished! xD

Here's the crazy Ragia Gadget deck I made on impulse. Why Gene-Warped Warwolf instead of just Kabazauls? I like the extra 300 ATK the Warwolf is packing. Takes care of Thunderking and other 1900 atk stuffs. DNA Surgery will take care of Ragia's requirements. W/o surgery, I can still go for Hope or Roach no problem. :)

Its past midnight now and DN is suffering major lag issues. TCG world's time to play? Maybe its time to sleep now, lol.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Its spreading! The epidemic started with "Banlist Speculations" as symptoms then developed into the "Banlist Spoilers" string. lol. Maybe in a couple of days everyone will be affected by it. In fact, I'm already succumbing to the virus! Pls banlist dont let me lose $$$ big time! (waa, my Formulas, PoDs, Tengu)

Its less than 4 weeks before the start of a new format and about 1-2 weeks before the Japanese scans the V-JUMP release to show us the actual list. This is the usual time where the fake banlists are made and scattered. While some are proven to be fake immediately, some are rather realistic and appealing to the general public that they want the list to be real. However, in the end no matter how good a "spoiled" list is, Konami figures up some way on how to make us all say "wtf" with the real list. (Remember Goyo Guardian? lol)

Here are some "spoiled banlists" I found around the web. WARNING: NOT YET OFFICIAL LISTS

Saw this list first at Mike's blog (Dueling Legacy). He said it was from a friend from Japan.
I dont know, unbanning Cyber Jar seems to be too 'wtf' IMO.

=================================================================

Here's another list from the Japanese Wiki site. (Japanese wiki rumored list)
My senses tell me this is a real list. However, another part of me still wants to not believe it since it is still to early for anything (and also because all of my cards are hit >.<)

Again I repeat, this is not an official list as of yet. This may be another one of those fake lists.
Reliable banlists are only those that come from the VJMP mag that is to be released a couple of days from now. So let's all cross our fingers!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Went to a local tournament at Marketplace Mall (MP for short), Madaluyong yesterday with a TG deck again and won.

Deck Used: T.G. Offering Gadgets

Round1: vs. Salvosworn X-O-O *won die roll
Game1 = he was close to being milled out as he only had 1 more card in deck. I sided in Light Mirrors and Crows.
Game2 = Duality got me Light Mirror in 1st turn. He used Trunade but I still had an Inverz Roach and TGs on field. He just summoned a Trooper, went over my Roach, and ended, lol.
Game3 = Didnt have Light Mirror.. His end mill got him to 4 graved LS. I summoned Roach. His hand was Chaos, and JD but cant summon them. gg

Round3: vs. Anti-Meta O-O *won die roll
G1 and G2 = easy win with simple 1 for 1 exchanges. He was using Raioh and Doomcalis but lost them to trap cards.

Round4 should have been against my friend but we agreed to share the booster prizes instead.

He was playing a Water deck with cards from GENF and it was funny to see how his opponents were unhappy to be losing to small direct-attacking monsters which hide for the rest of the turn. lol

Main culprits are:

Sky Oni-eating Ray (EN: Skystarray)
Sea Serpent / EffectThis card can attack your opponent directly. At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card attacked directly: Banish this card until your next Standby Phase.

This is the main monster of the deck. Direct attackers that hide after the Battle Phase are harder to kill than others would usually think. The "hiding" effect are actually key to the deck's combos as seen with these next monsters with the same ability...

Flyfang
Fish/EffectIf this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict Piercing Battle Damage to your opponent. At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card inflicted Battle Damage to your opponent: Banish this card until your next Standby Phase.

Stronger attack with a piercing effect. This is the Bora of the archetype that can rush damage through tokens and Rykos to help your direct-attacking Sky Oni.

This card takes care of problem cards your opponent might have or destroy monsters that block possible direct attacks. This card combos well with the Xyz monster Leviair.

These monsters are the key monsters that banish themselves after they use their effects. Besides protection, the "hiding" effect is essential for the next monster...

Wingtortoise
Aqua/EffectWhen a face-up Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua-Type monster you control is banished: You can Special Summon this card from your hand or Graveyard.

If you are concerned about your field being empty after your Sky Onis were banished, this is the answer. These monsters are free blockers and can also be used for synchro and Xyz summons. 2 or 3 of these can be summoned simultaneously to summon Leviair, Revise Dragon, Terrabyte, and even Aero-Shark (damage rush).

Here's his full decklist:

Deep Sea Diva + Inferno Reckless Summon
Diva is the searcher card of the deck which can call Sky Oni to start, Gillman for damage boost, Orca for destruction, call Tortoise from deck, or just to synchro a LV5 monster. Combo that with IRS and you can have up to 3 instant direct attackers, or 3 Tortoises ready to synchro summon LV8 monsters or to Xyz summon! You can also summon 3 Divas in order to summon Daigusto Phoenix (most of the monsters are WIND attribute) or Gachi Gachi Gantetsu (for more ATK boosts). Xyz Leviair can also be used to initiate an IRS play.

Level Limit Area B and Gravity Bind
All of the monsters are below LV4 and another cool thing is that all Xyz monsters bypass these two cards.

Dimensional Fissure and Xyz monsters
One would think that this card will render Wingtortoise useless. However, due to a OCG ruling that says detached Xyz material are NOT sent to the RFG zone even if there's Macro Cosmos on the field, you can still use Tortoise to summon Xyz monsters then detach them to send it straight to the grave! Dimensional Fissure also helps against Plant, TG, DW, and most meta matchups.

Screen of Redand Fiendish Chain
These two are the cards most of his opponents were really annoyed at. Being unable to attack and use effects while a 600-1000+ ATK Sky Oni (or two) direct-attacks you is no joke when you are on the receiving end. With these also your monsters are vulnerable to being stolen by Terrabyte.

Watching this deck in action makes me laugh so hard seeing his opponents misplay and get panicky when they're LP runs close to 0 (due to the use of their own Warnings and Judgments) while Sky Onis are attacking. lol.

Hopefully, 6Sam decks get hit this September to give decks like this a chance to play.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

The YGO Zexal Division Tournament officially starts today. All our previous tournament rankings and points have been brought back to zero :( Maybe at least this new system will give a clearer explanation to how Konami rates its players.

Being a start of a new season of dueling, lots of players went to the official shop and played.

Tourney Start: 5pm
Participants: 24 or so (yes, its still low, but by PH standards, that's plenty already for a weekly)

Deck Used: Tech Genus Scraps

Round1: vs. Chester (Dark World) O-O-x *lost die roll
He set a monster and 2 backrows. I feared that maybe he was playing DW and I didnt set any of my Warning and other traps besides MST. He used Lightning and I chained the MST. His play went slow from there I was able to win through card advantage and a final rush of Striker, Warwolf, and Scrap Dragon play. Game 2 I sided in Shadow Mirror and he got pinned by it. Lucky he didnt draw Ryko.

Round2: vs. Zaldy (Chaos Beat) O-O-x *lost die roll
He also did the same move as my previous opponent and again I feared DW. (Lol, why am I so paranoid?) So again I made the same counter-move of setting only chainable traps and Scrapstorm. Then I knew he wasnt DW and felt assured when he summoned Dimension Alchemist. His Chaos Sorc got owned by my Scrap beast with twin Horn of Phantom beast which I rode to victory. Again Game 2 I sided in Crows and Shadow Mirror but didnt draw any. However, still made a slow grind to win out in advantage. Scrapstorm owns!

Round3: vs. Karlo (Graveyard BF) X-O-O *won die roll?
I got OTK'ed by Burial from DD and DAD on 1st game. I sided in Cydras, Crows, and Shadow Mirror. 2nd game I controlled him early and won. 3rd game was crazy, he again had DAD and was able to summon it to destroy my Horn'ed Rush Rhino (or Scrap beast?) then next turn I drew Shadow Mirror. Luckily I had Chimera on hand and was able to summon Scrap Dragon to attack over his Trooper to leave him 300LP. His turn he activated DAD and I chained S.Mirror. Then he activated Burial from the DD to return his banished BFs and offered a handshake (since I was low on LP also). Good thing I remembered that I had Shadow Mirror that refused his Vayu to activate. LOL. He conceded when he also realized the same. XD

Round4: vs. Wslasher (Six Samurai) X-O-X *lost die roll
In all games he wasnt able to summon a Shien but had control of the field with a GM equipped with Spirit. His mained Dusts also caught me offguard in game 1 which costed me the game.

Result: 3-1 and continued to Top 8

Top8: vs. Sergio (Six Samurai) O-X-O *lost die roll
Forgot about game1. Game 2 he had United and Gateway. Game 3 I was able to BRD his Gateway, Shien, and 3 backrows w/c composed of 1 BTH. He didnt BTH my Cydra (w/c led to BRD when i summoned Striker) because he knew I also had a Scrap Chimera play next.

Top4: vs. Karlo, rematch lol but lost now. X-X-X *lost die roll
Game 1 he had Burial and DAD. Game 2 I was leading with my Shadow Mirror holding him down. But a major misplay on my part involving his Brionac costed me the game. Sad. My next draw should have been Monster Reborn.

Final Prize: 1 Photon Shockwave booster. LOL

Should have thought more about my last play. Haha. Sorry deck, I failed you xD
Wasnt able to watch the final match because if was already past 8pm and I still have to travel to somewhere.

I'm Edsel and I'm from the Philippines. I made this blog because I was inspired by the other popular blogsites out there (Dueling Days and other sites in my blog roll) and thought that writing stuff about the game would be fun :) Another reason is that I haven't seen any Filipino YGO blogger so maybe I could be the first. Hopefully I would not waste anyone's time when they read my entries, LOL

Anyway, I'll usually blog about things that I can see here in the Philippine tournaments. Deck choices (meta), some new tech or ideas I might happen to come around, and hopefully I can give tournament reports of not just my games but also feature some of the matches I watch.